Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-01-02

the certlncateS provided for BY 1t should
be located on reserved land. That is the
plain English Of the argument, when
rendered into English. But they refuse
to De so universally liberal in their cor
struction OF the prohibitory words
in the Confederate act, and will
not allow them to repeal the
Greer county reservation for all purposes,
1or instance, for home stesdse for pre-
emptlons, location of othsr cer,ifcs, ess
etc They close the door oh the reseryed
land as soon IS they work Ia the veteran
certiacates. But there was rs mach au-
thor1ty for constituting it closed after 6
select few had got into the ark as for con-
strung it open for them to get into it. 7 he
argument is. if not sbsurd, certaiplY IN
constitutional, for the natter Of veteran
certificates, the matter of Greer county,
the matter OF any previous law granting
the veteran certificates is not mentioned
IN the title OF the Confederate set. But
the constitution requires thst the
purpose OF an &C. shall be
expressed in its title. Judge
Walker, when the question of the validity
OF these locations came before him, dis
posed OF this line of argument BY saying:
That 1t being expressed that such loca-
lions (uf Confederate certifcatesl shall
be made on any of The public domsfn OF
Texas not II served by law from location,
did not by implication enlarge the privi-
leg-s OF the veteran certificates, nor does
1t evidence an intent IN the legislature to
| pen the reservation to the F-tersn GER
tlfcate holders" The reservation act,
tn veteran sets, and the Confederate
act, were ell passed during Gov. ,berts'
administration OF the government.
Almost his last official ect
before he went out Of Office
four years ago was message to
the legislative relstive to the then, and
now, existing boundary dispute. In that
message he says: "But little progress
was made in this matter until after the
Seventt enth legislature
passed the law granting land certificates
OF 1880 acres to the Texas veterans of
1886, whereupon Col. John NJ Swlsher.
Que OF the said veterans, interviewed me
as 10 the propriety and pract.cability of
getting the Legislature to pass law al
lowing these veteran certificates to be
located in Greer county. Ny reply was
that if the claim of Texas could be
established and recognized while
was governor, l would GER
lure allowing these veteran certificates
to be located in Greer county, provided
the veterans retained an in crest in the
lauds located aud their locations be made
50 as not to diminish the amount of lands
therein devoted to pubic tree schools"
La addition TO showing that be did not re-
gard the |, gislation Ell 1881 as opening up
the reservation, for it appears that he
tnOnDht u m do, hat
shows thlt the holders Of the certificates
were Of the same opinion. may say
that when any man, lawyer or rot, and
lawyer CT vide or Coufned fame, finds hing
self differing in a mItter Of legal con
structlon with that great master Of the
law and judicial philosopher 1t
is time Tor him to conclude
that somewhere in the process
OF his reasoning he has perhaps made
great mistake. This st itement is dispar-
aging to no lawyer. Ii is matter OF his
tory that he had encouraged the enact
ment of the law reserving Greer county
and appropriating it to the usts Indicated
in 1t, with the hope OF simplifying the set
tlement OF the b, uudary controversy with
the United States government. To the
last dag OF his wire and musyeIOusly pr s.
have occurred to him that all the above
cited acts could not exist together in full
force. This extract from his message is
potential evidence of smother fact TGat
is that he not only did not
believe that he had approved
an act which repealed or "cut short"
(whatever these words may mean, for I
borrow them from the other side the |
To- I'm hot ha n i in
tend ct any future time TO approve an act |
that changed the status of the land until |
the boundary question had been settle !. |
H. did not intend to violate the most OBJ
vious good faith by granting the land |
away while we were seeking settlement |
of the exceedingly important question of |
ownership, no matter how good and !
strong our claim. II app; ars also that ne |
intended tSat locations should be made |
Jtere oGly when and on the condi ion that |
the veterans tn Eselves were beneficial
ries of the locations. And although |
locations had been made therein
in 1882, it is quite apparent that he kn. W |
nothing about them on January 10, 1888,
THE date OF his message from which the |
above extract is taken.
Now, in defiance of the laws OF the !
state reserving these lands. end pending
the unsettled question of ownership ami |
in defiance, believe | may say, of legal
advice, locations were made in the terri
torial limits of Greer county, and pspers
III the form of patents were issued at
tempting TO grant away q large amount
of this land, perhaps some six or seven
hundred thousand aGres or more.
These pretended pltents have
all been Issued since the b
ginning of the year 1888. 1t is only 81
tri3uting to the patertees the exercise IF
good common sense when we say that
they, having the pick of the country, have
selected the most desirable land. The
streams have been tracked in their NEAR
derIngs and the water has bsen 2pprc-
pristed; wire fences have been strung
around vast amount Of this land Claimed
under the Sc sO-called patents, and il has
been claimed as private Ity. The
people generally Of the state have been
denied the right to use il IN their acCus-
toned way. So-called patents to nearly
$50, 600 acres OF these lands were
is> ued to the constituent mem
bers of land and cattle
domiciled at Austin, where
I may say most of the LAID is claimed.
The constituents CT the corporation in
due time transferred their claim to the
land to the corporatioH. 1t is hardly nee
essary to say that their pretended patents
were no patents at all. They were issued
Tor reserved lands. Ali men were FORBID
len TO locate them, and all men were for
oiGden to sign the patents. The govern
nens denied the power to its officers to
:ign these patents and forbade them to